'Prince Harry would have raised eyebrows': Royal biographer Andrew Morton tells all about bride-to-be, Meghan Markle

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk down the aisle at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle in just a few weeks, it will be a landmark moment for the Royal Family.

“Even a decade ago, it would have been eyebrows raised for Prince Harry to bring along Meghan Markle – a bi-racial, divorced American actress,” according to best-selling Royal biographer Andrew Morton.

Morton knows all the Royal secrets. He wrote the best-selling book about Diana that exposed her doomed marriage to Prince Charles and now he’s telling all about Markle in a new book.

“The big difference between Meghan and Diana is that Diana’s vulnerability was what attracted people to her,” he tells Sunday Night’s Melissa Doyle.

“With Meghan, you already have an independent, self-confident woman who is camera ready and not camera shy.”

Harry, the sixth-in-line to the British throne, was untiltwo-years-ago, the world’s most eligible bachelor.

In July 2016, he met Meghan, a glamorous American actress, on a blind date in London and it got serious very quickly.

“It’s genius because she’s the perfect pairing for Harry and she’s a perfect symbol for the future of the Royal Family,” says Morton.

Regardless of Meghan’s divorce and racy Hollywood acting career, she has been warmly accepted by the one who matters most – the Queen.

“Harry thinks he’s the luckiest man alive,” Morton said.

Meghan grew up in suburban Los Angeles, California. Her dad, Thomas Markle, is an Emmy-Award-Winning lighting director. Her mum, Doria Raglan, is a makeup artist and yoga teacher.

Meghan was intelligent and precocious with a vivid imagination. Once, as a child, she played out a backyard fantasy – as a princess. It’s a remarkable sign of her undoubted ambition, charm and beauty – and the changing nature of the Royal family – that this fantasy could become a reality.

When news of Harry and Meghan’s romance broke, the British press was quick to paint a tawdry picture of Meghan’s background.

Her family was labelled dysfunctional, trailer trash, and much was made of the fact her mother was African-American.

The criticism of the family was partly fuelled by the outspoken comments of Meghan’s half-sister Samantha.

Fifty-three-year-old Samantha hasn’t spoken to Meghan for years. But that hasn’t stopped her spreading negative rumours since Meghan’s engagement.

And just recently even threatened to write a tell-all book called “Princess Pushy”.

“I think she [Samantha] has had this ongoing resentment since Meghan was born,” said Meghan’s half-brother, Tom Markle Jr.

Fifty-year-old Tom has had his fair share of bad press, too.

Earlier this year, he was charged with the unlawful use and possession of a firearm.

But Tom says: “Everybody’s got ghosts and stuff in the closet, secrets, hatred and it’s a normal family.”

Tom and Samantha haven’t been invited to the Royal wedding and he claims he can’t understand why.

“I didn’t even know that we had a falling out,” Tom said.

“I would like to see her [Meghan] again, give her a hug and tell her how proud I am of her.”

There’s still no official word on whether their father, Thomas, will walk Meghan down the aisle.

He lives in quiet retirement in Mexico.

“Hopefully, he’ll realise this is the biggest event of the century and he’s involved whether he likes it or not,” Tom said.

Where Meghan’s family will sit in her new life is uncertain, but, Tom hopes that one day the family can forgive each other.

“I think now more than ever it should be the time for everybody to put their differences aside and just be a family.”